My friend, Jessica Kaylor, fell while she was in California and broke her hip. Jess has had cancer for some three to four years and has been fighting it like crazy. She is 32 and has a husband, Jake, and three girls. Please pray for her as she travels back from California on Saturday. See her blog for more info.
The people at Blood and Fire Dallas have been really good to us. When they saw that we didn’t have very many older kids, they did their best to accommodate us and come up with activities that all the kids participate in. So today we made Easter baskets.
First Fran, one of the workers in the Compassion House, explained that we would be making Easter baskets so that we could remind people what Easter was about; the Resurrection! They had card stock and crayons for all the kids to make custom cards. We spent some time coming up with good things to say on the cards and then spent about twenty minutes making cards. (We were joined by Christine from Plano. She’s a really cool girl that we met at the BnF BBQ last week. She showed up to help because she could – is that great or what?)
Then we split into three groups: one to finish the cards, one to put together the baskets (Styrofoam bowls) and one to color eggs. After we finished all of our jobs, we divided up into three teams and took the baskets to three different apartment complexes around the Compassion House. We passed out the baskets to the residents of the respective apartments and met up back at the house.
It was great to see the kids walking right up to people and giving them their Easter baskets.
After we finished, Kevin, the assistant director of the Father’s House, thanked us for helping spread the good word to people in the neighborhood. He also pointed out how much fun the kids had helping other people feel better.
It’s been an interesting week. Nothing happened the way I planned it. Just in case you’re wondering if I’m exaggerating, NOTHING went the way I planned it. OK, maybe the sandwiches…(Thanks Sarah and Suzanne from the LABC kitchen)
I know that I prayed like crazy in the weeks prior to Spring Break for God’s will to be done. So, I’m going to have to believe that it was. Looking back on it, the kids that were with us all had an opportunity to serve God and help others for three days this week and had fun doing it. They got a chance to see that service to God isn’t necessarily drudgery. They also got a glimpse of another world right here in the Metroplex. I’m praying that working with the people at the Union Gospel Mission and Blood and Fire opened the kids eyes to the needs around them.
So much for being all deep…I know that I was surprised to see the Union Gospel Mission and all the homeless people in Fort Worth. I’ve lived in the Metroplex for almost fifteen years and have never seen so many homeless people.
Thank you for your prayers this week and for your support.
Click here to see all the pictures we took today.
